The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-02-19
even the incurably Insane, then as no"
making M a large part Of It's inmates

even tut
making up a large part Of lis inmates
TO what extern, the expected reform IL
the matter Of granting "ou'side aid 10 we
Door has been accomplished since the open
Ing of the asylum, the people may Judge
The facts are, that the amounts phd I'I
outside aid" have increased from year u
wear, aud on, of all proportion 10 the grown
OF the county or 10 the Increase In expense
of the county asylum.
Tina, the idea Of the builders Of the pres
ent asylum-that II should be the home "i
the dependent poor-permanently II they
are permanently dependent, and tempo
rarily il during certain seasons OF the
year they are Dependencies not lived ui
10 Is too apparent for argument; and II Is a
proper subject for enquiry by the Board oil
supervisors.
The subject of Outside aid" is, Of course,
a delica'e and a serious question 10 handle
II Is also popular form Of public charity
particularly In the West, II seems TO be a
necessity In every community. Yet II Is a
charity the effects Of which II Is difficult TO
ASCERTAIN; and for that reason deserving OF
careful enquiry. Mr.. +. + Crandon, "ri'
ting Of "Mi.goyernment Of Great Cities,
says: II am quite sure that this form OF
poor.relief Is frequently so administered as
10 encourage pauperism. II creates a class
of dependents who become imbued with
the idea that such support Is HI inallenable
right; all stimulus 20 industry and thrift Is
lost, and pauperism becomes profession
The experience Of 0bseryant supervisors In
this county will go far TO endorse tlls STATE
ment that such support is looked upon as
a right; and II Is but rehearsing an old
story . say that It was before the new
rules were adopted by the Board) no,icea-
BILE how large proportion OF non.necessa
res we're consumed by the poor OF this
county granted Outside add" parties who
never with their orders bought bread, meat
OF fuel, consumed many pounds Of coffee,
tea and sugar at county expense Was that
helping the poor To make ends meet, Or was
1t merely encouraging Il Sinking of labor
or slip shod management o. their house
hold expenses? This Is offered merely as
suggestion.
The political philosopher would go far
deeper into the subject. He would ask
whether 1t Is good for the recipient or the
donor that much or little be given away In
this manner, and probably deny that any
good results; yet even the least philosoph
ical will say, with Mr. Crandon, that "in 50
far as 1t Is practicable, there ought to be
some kind of quid pro quoj and aid granted
should take the form of payment for some
kind Of service rendered, even If the serv.
ice be of no value to the donor" The city
OF Providence, r. l., has rule that each
recipient Of entertainment at city expense
shall render certain amount of labor for
It, The result is the expense for "outside
hlu tutIt is utNltdSlhB' w any
similar system could be devised for gener-
al use throughout this county remains to
be seen. 1t is worth considering. Certainly
every city In the county can, and should
adopt system that should demand a quid
pro quo from tramps and Migrants, and the
towns In which they are situated could do
the same to certain extent 1t might be
said here that the change in the form of
pauper orders to that now In use is expect.
ed to result In saving of $4,000 to $4,000
this year alone!
There may be also question as to
whether II would not In the end be a say.
ing for the county to build a separate insti-
tuition for the care of its rapidly increasing
incurably insane-this may have to be
done soOn,--and by relieving the asylum
of that class Of inmates make room for
sane dependents of permanent or tenn
porary dependency, and thus largely reduce
the expense of maintaining proportion OF
those to whom supervisors feel disinclined
to or cannot properly resuse aid at present.
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